Frivolous

Blocking elections–or delaying NLRB certification of the NUHW after it wins a contested vote–has been SEIU’s survival strategy in many California health care units. Last March, for example, another group of 700 unhappy members of SEIU’s statewide United Healthcare Workers (UHW) local revolted at Seton Medical Center, in Daly City south of San Francisco.

…Three years ago, SEIU/UHW negotiated a contract riddled with costly pension and health plan give-backs affecting workers at Seton and five other Daughters of Charity hospitals. To secure membership approval, SEIU gave workers few details of the settlement and only nine hours advance notice of the ratification vote—a breach of the union’s own constitution.

Two years after this bargaining fiasco, Seton workers voted to replace SEIU with NUHW. The incumbent union appealed the election results, while continuing to collect dues but doing little to improve its day-to-day worker representation. Finally, on March 19 after a year-long investigation, the NLRB’s San Francisco regional office dismissed SEIU’s post-election complaints, finding them to be frivolous and not even worthy of a hearing.

Has NUHW been certified as the new union yet? Not quite, because the incumbent union—now completely MIA at Seton—has appealed this decision to the Labor Board in Washington.